>> it was a fight, almost literally. there is no love lost. toe to toe, interruptions, in your face. romney kept the momentum, obama showed up, showed up with some fire. good morning, everyone. three issues, three flash points, libya. the president got it wrong. later the moderated admitted romney got it right. energy, romney pushed hard, gas prices doubling, drilling curtailed. the president's response was weak. the record of the last four years, romney scored points here. the president said give me four more years. as for the media, as predicted, scoring it for the president. well, we have our own all-star cast, including the n.r.a.'s wayne laperriere. they will offer their judgment. "varney & company" is about to begin.

>> here it is, everyone, the big story of the morning, the second presidential debate. we don't want to get bogged down who thinks who won or lows, no, we want to focus on the issues. starting with libya, listen to this. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror? it was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> all right, i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact, sir, so, let me call it an act of terror and we'll use the words. >> can you say that louder? >> he did call it an act of terror, it did as well take, it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out, you're correct about that. stuart: all right, now after the debate. candy crowley the moderator had to clarify saying that romney was quote, right in the main,

but used the wrong word because the president did in fact say acts of terror on september the 12th, got it. moving onto the other big issue of the night. oil drilling because that discuss got contentious. >> in the last four years you cut permits and licenses on federal lands and federal water in half. >> not true. >> how much did you cut them by. >> we produced more-- >> no, how much did you cut licenses on federal lands and federal waters. >> here is what we did, a whole bunch of oil companies. >> i had a question and how much did did you cut them about by. >> i'm happy to answer the question, on drilling permits, the number there of, the president never did give a solid answer so we asked our own brain room and here is their number. here is what they come up with. off shore and on shore drilling permits total. down 37% under president obama. as compared to the last three years, to president bush. the mainstream media, their response overall to the debate decidedly pro obama.

look at this. the san francisco chronicle says obama hits romney misses. the new yorker, less measured saying obama finally fights and wins. all right. another big issue last night. women. did the candidates really address the issues women care about? congresswoman marsha blackburn will join us next. sometimes investing opportunities are hard to spot. you have to dig a little. fidelity's etf market acker shows you the big picture on how different asset classes are performing, and it lets you go in for a closer look at areas within a class or sector that may be bucking a larger trend. i'm stephen hett of fidelity vestment the etf market tracker is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose,

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>> two items in the news background for you. first, big news, lance armstrong dropped from his charity, cancer charity and nike has thrown him off the nike advertising, that's lance armstrong. second, strong start for housing, 872,000 new homes being built on an annualized basis, up very strongly, best in about four years, that's the opening bell, you can hear it, trading has begun on the down side. a loss of 12, 15 points in the very early going and we'll see if that down side move is confirmed. two big tech names that you know and both of them in the red big time this morning. i'm going to start with ibm. there's a real bellwether. down big why? >> well, it's down 4 1/2%, that is big. it is a dow component and they came out with their quarterly numbers, and ibm has seen the

revenue dropping, they've seen a september slowdown and the businesses are just cutting back on tech spending overall, not good news for ibm after the quarterly report. stuart: you're right. ibm is a dow stock and that's why the dow is down and intel. >> intel is down over 4%, they're giving a very cautious outlook and we've been saying it here on "varney & company," pc demand has been dwindling and intel confirming exactly that. and so, with the disappointing outlook and a tough quarter, you see intel is down over 4% this morning, stuart. stuart: thanks very much, nicole, we're one minute into the session and the dow is at 13,500. where we are the beginning of trading this morning. and mitt romney made major gains with women, and women voters, since that first debate. president obama tried to regain their support last night. and is the question that got the candidate started on women's issues and the president's

response. >> what new ways do you intend for inequality in the work place, specifically females making only 72% of what their male counterparts earned. >> the first bill i signed called the lilly ledbetter bill and named after this amazing woman who had been doing the same job as a man for years, found out she was getting paid less, so we fixed that and that's an example of the kind of advocacy we need because women are increasingly the breadwinners in the family. this is not just a women's issue, this is a family issue, this is a middle class issue and that's why we've got to fight for it. all right, well, congresswoman marsha blackburn is with us, republican from tennessee. you just heard a direct appeal there from the president for the women's vote. what do you make of it. >> first of all, women know that a piece of legislation in

washington d.c. is not going to fix their income opportunities. they know that being able to fairly compete in the marketplace, access to capital for small businesses, the end of wage stagnation, getting rid of rules and regulations is what is going to make a difference. stuart: do you think that was an effective appeal? i was going to follow up that sound bite with the president with something from the freebie con which showed that in the obama white house women actually earn 18% less than men, that's a statistic, i should have gotten to that. do you think that the president made an effective appeal to women on the issue of pay, to you, was that effective. >> no, here is why, stu. he said don't worry about that, we've already fixed that and we've passed the bill. women want solutions and they know that passing that bill in washington d.c. did not fix their desire to have greater opportunities and they know the way we're going to do this is by making certain that employers

realize that women are 52% of the work force, they're equal on every level and they want to get in there, we need to encourage women to go compete and reeducate a lot of employers on this with issue. >> and the president, what the democrats are saying, look, educating the kids, health care, free contraception, abortion, these are women's issues. we will take care of that, vote for us. now, is that not a powerful appeal to women? >> no, because-- >> it's not? >> the economy or issue number one, the federal deficit and data issue number two. stuart: for women, is it for women? >> for women. stuart: if you tell me conclusively that women want jobs and expanding economy and less debt. >> absolutely. stuart: is that the top of their priority? >> absolutely. everywhere i go across the country and read polling and look at this, mitt romney came out on top with women last night. >> he did. stuart: because he wants solutions and jobs and they want to know what's going to happen

with economic opportunity, not only for them, but for their children. >> okay, look, i'm sorry. shouldn't be doing this. stuart: the jobs and deficit are right up front of the issues that women really care about. >> they are. stuart: why are more women going to vote for president obama according to the very latest polls? forget last night after the debate. president obama has a clear edge among women voters why? >> because most of the undecides right now are independent women. the number one issue with them is jobs and the economy. they have wanted to see these candidates side by side go head to head, one-on-one, and that's what they're having the opportunity to see. and you know what, stuart? i think it's so insightful that after the first debate, women broke and moved from obama to romney. last night was a good solid night for romney. and i think as we get into addressing the issues of libya,

benghazi, foreign policy, more of the trade issues, next week, you're going to see romney continue to hold that lead. i think this is-- >> i've had people on this program who will come right back at you and say benghazi, libya, men care about that, not women. >> not at all. national security, as i said. four top issues, johns and the economy, deficit and debt. what are you going to do with obamacare and national security. making certain that we are safe here. stuart: you sit on the energy subcommittee. >> yes, energy and commerce. stuart: energy and commerce. what do you make of governor romney's thrust in the energy sector last night, especially that fight about whether or not drilling had gone down on federal lands during the obama years, what do you make of that? >> well, governor romney is right and obviously, the president wasn't given the appropriate stats by his bureau of land management. stuart: he didn't answer the governor's charge. >> you're right. so he did not know that. he thinks that they're drilling.

the production is up because of what's happening up in bismarck, north dakota. that's on private land. >> that's exactly right, but the president's epa continues to make it more and more difficult for those that want to get permits to drill. will not let them build new refineries, coal, war on coal in this country and that's why we want to change that and we do want to get our light bulbs back. [laughter] >> i should have brought that up. stuart: congresswoman marshal blackburn, tennessee. >> always good to see you. stuart: in the next hour, we'll see how the candidates fared undecided voters, and immediate reaction went this way, and that will be part of the new at 10 coverage. to the big board. ibm shaving off points off the dow, if it wasn't for ibm the dow would be up, but it's not the. ibm is down sharply. two stories on cyclist lance

armstrong. nike announcing it's terminated its contract with armstrong after ten years saying and i'm quoting now, nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs inn any manner. and armstrong announced he's stepping down as chairman of his cancer charity, just a week after the u.s. anti-doping agency released a report of widespread doping allegations against him. you'll recall the agency ordered 14 years of his career be erased, including his seven tour de france titles. the disgraced former cycling cancer saying he stepped down from the charity to limit tfrom the scandal. nicole what are the shares doing. >> when you read the statement from nike, obviously, they stood by lance armstrong for some time, but now they're making it very clear, they cannot do so anymore and even used the word

doping in the statement, saying due to the seemingly unsurmountable evidence that armstrong participated in doping and misled nike, and with sadness-- >> and they used that word "misled nike" "armstrong misled nike" they said that. >> and misled nike for more than a decade, and terminated the contract with them. stuart: that's a very strong statement, strongly worded, too. nicole, no impact on nike stock, but a very interesting story, nicole, thank you very much indeed. time is money, so is 30 seconds, here is what else you've got going on, not just the debate. it wasn't as much of a blowout as the first debate, but we're sure that the rnc chairman thinks that romney won. we'll get into specifics later. guns a big issue with our viewers and we'll talk to the n.r.a. chief wayne laperriere.

and israel was not mentioned. isn't it a big issue for voters? and a rabbi here with us. we want to hear from you of course to varney@foxbusiness.com. we'll get through them all. seven early movers this wednesday morning, let's see what we've got. let's start with microsoft. it's starting to price, i should say, it has a starting price for the new be tablet computer due out. $499 apiece, the starting price. 29.19 for microsoft, down 30 cents on that news. we mentioned intel before, lower profit, lower sales, intel is down 3%. thaa's a big drop for a spot like that. another big loser ibm, profits down, it's going to seles computer hardware, it says, and that thing is down 4%, nine bucks lower for ibm. target says it will match the on-line price you find at

amazon. this season it's up a penny. and merrill lynch cutting into the bank of america profits and b of a is down. halliburton down on a slowdown in u.s. drilling. right now halliburton stock is down at 34. and more on the drilling slowdown in the next hour by the way. much expected, better than expected-- much better, better than-- much better than expected report on september housing sales, and building permits. here is a look at the shares of the home builder pulte. it's up. i got it right. the dow is down 42. twitter was buzzing during last night's debate. and social media plays a big roll in politics, and millions of tweets. what does the instant reaction say who won. a surprising accurate measure from a teenager who came up with a unique polling system. he'll join us next. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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. stuart: the market settled down, now down just 33 points. look at the price of oil. where are we? we're at $92 a barrel and now we want to get the reaction on the debate from an unusual source, that would be twitter. joining us now is the founder of civil vision, it's a live debate analysis, tracking and categorizing the tweets. he he's 17 and took the day off school to be with us. pete, welcome back. >> thank you. stuart: who won? >> last night was exciting, and back and forth. at the end of the night it was a draw, but of the three debates,

by and far the most negative. stuart: negative for who? >> both of them. a likability shift between the two candidates and overall very negative. stuart: you can't say one side won or lost. >> no, the numbers just don't say that. stuart: okay. the second question of the night produced a big fight between them. did twieter feed spike at that point? >> yeah, they did the highest volume point of the night. and it did go back and forth between the two candidates and romney took a hit at that point. romney's biggest hit. stuart: when you say biggest hit. >> he suffered the most in the entire night. stuart: really. >> he did come back quickly and won on the economy every time he talked about the economy he peaked back up, very beneficial to him. stuart: any input from, when he was talking about drilling, and energy? >> energy is another issue where twitter really goes back and forth between the two candidates. some are with president obama and others are with governor romney. governor romney does the best when he talks about energy independence in the middle east and highest points.

stuart: you don't just poll the number of tweets, you poll, you can look at sentiment. >> yeah. >> so it's both the volume and sentiment, which is, it's another characteristic, more three dimensional rather than two dimensional and you can tell how deeply positive or negative an individual tweeted and more accurate than volume polling. stuart: and governor romney used the expression, binders of women. now, you can take that in all different ways obviously, but i think that created a surge in tweets, didn't it? >> unfortunately, he really suffered on that and that was what ultimately i think changed the running average against him. he would have had a great night had it not been for that comment. and if that was the highest volume point of the evening. which is right after that comment. overall it was the most negative response upon twitter in terms of sentiment of the three debates we've had so far. >> not only with the candidates. candy crowley was taken the most negative of the three

commenttators so far. >> really? this is fascinating stuff. join us soon. >> always. stuart: how much is your company worth now. >> official valuation is hard to peg, but i have high hopes. stuart: he's a diplomate, too. peter, civil bishop. come with us soon. and where are we this morning after the second debate? no change, gold at 1746.40. there are questions about the questions themselves that were asked during last night's debate. did they favor, the questions, that is, did they favor president obama, softballs picked by candy crowley. she did pick them. we'll play some of them for you. and elizabeth macdonald and doug schoen will decide whether they're softballs or not, coming up momentarily. ♪

>> all right we got the latest tracking poll from rasmussen, obama 50, romney 47. that's a daily poll of likely

voters taken before last night's debate. 50-47, obama. and last night was a town hall style, and people asked the questions, but moderator from cnn she chose which questions were asked. some feel she let some softballs through. >> in what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace specifically regarding females making only 72% of what their male counterparts concerned. >> mr. president, i voted for you in 2008. what have you done or accomplished to earn my vote in 2012. >> what is the the biggest difference between you and george w. bush? >> well, kind of softening it up. those three, we picked thee, but they were softballs, liz, surely. >> yeah, they were softballs and the point is, look, with the president thinks that raising taxes or jobs council would create jobs, and command control economy, some have criticized them for, yeah, it's inquality

in wages and the work place, but the broader issue, where are the jobs. stuart: here, you are, % mr. president hit this out of the park, kind of like that, but candy crowley chose those questions. what do you make of her performance? >> well, to we might differ about the questions, women in the park place is a fair question and i think bush versus-- and candy crowley makes one interjection when she validated obama's position on the transcript vis-a-vis libya the day after the tragic killing in the rose garden. the idea that she went from moderator to validater to referee, once and only once, in my judgment turned the tide of the debate in the ddrection of the president. >> fact checker. >> to fact checker in a way that lost the larger issue, the failure of our security ap rat dust to protect our ambassador and three other people, apparatus. it become who said what when. i think that was critically

wrong. stuart: we'll get more into that throughout the next hour, thanks very much indeed. i've got a great majority of people in this country they know for whom they are voting, so the election could hinge to some degree, largely, maybe, on undecided voters. and coming up next react to three points that the president made that may sway voters either way and who won the decided. >> how many of you voted for barack obama in 2008, raise your hands? a whole lot of these people. how many of you are staying with barack obama in 2012? i'm a conservative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure. but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar counts.

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around the country, around the corner. us bank. ♪ >> new at 10. instant reaction to last night's debate from independent voters. that's who will decide the election, less than three weeks from today. here is what a focus group of undecided voters said immediately after watching last night's debate. >> and to describe mitt romney's. >> forceful, compassionate, presidential. >> confident and realistic. >> presidential. >> presidential and enthusiastic. >> our next president. >> dynamo winner. stuart: whoa, that's independents after the debate. also new at 10, at the end of the debate president obama hammered governor romney on his comment about the 47%.

trying to rally his liberal base. it was the last thing said in the debate and he was in direct response to this. >> in the nature of a campaign, it seems that some campaigns are focused on attacking a person rather than prescribing their own future, and the things they'd like to do. in the course of that i think the president's campaign has tried it characterize me as, as someone who is very different than who i am. i care about 100% of the american people. i want 100% of the american people to have a bright and prosperous future. >> rnc chairman is sitting here as we speak and get his reaction to that exchange in just a couple of moments, but perhaps the biggest issue is, what energy and libya, first off, romney attacks on gas prices and drilling and president obama hits back. first of all, though, just take a look at gas prices, 3.75 is the national average for regular right now. that's more than double what it was when president obama took office.

who won that part of the debate? we'll also ask that question of mr. priebus in just a moment and libya, things got heated, romney criticizing the response and the moderator taking sides. >> you said in the day after in the rose garden it was an act of terror not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying. >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure to get that for the record. it took the president 14 days before he called it an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact, sir, let me call it an act of terror and-- >> could you say that louder, candy. >> he did call it an act of terror, it did as well take -- it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. you're correct about that. stuart: well, that was quite an interjection candy crowley later said romney was right. quote, in the main.

president obama did refer to quote, an act of terror in the rose garden on september the 12th, but he was not specifically referring to libya when he said that. all of that and much more from last night coming up in this hour of "varney & company." the big board, going nowhere this morning and we're down just nine points at 13-5. and here is our post second debate company. elizabeth macdonald is with us, doug schoen and nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange. i'vv got two big tech names. go to you first, nicole. two big tech names and both are town. start with ibm. >> we look at ibm, they came in with revenue that dropped, obviously, a strong dollar was one of the issues that many of the global companies have talked about, but the big picture that they've been hurt by a september slowdown, we've seen big businesses cut their tech spending budgets and ibm has been a name that's been hurt boy that. down almost 4% weighing on the dow. >> a huge drop for a company like that. tell me about intel.

that's down, too. >> intel same picture, right, when we talk about techs. in this case not only a tough quarter, but also the outlook, giving an issues outlook about their profit going forward and pc demand something we've seen dwindling and intel confirming exactly that. a 14% drop in profit toward the third quarter and the outlook, but the fourth quarter, intel down 2%, so, it's improved some since we last spoke, but down arrow. stuart: those two big losers are taking a chunk out of thh dow. we would be way up were it not fo ibm and intel. join us now is the the chairman of the rnc. we want your reaction to three topics from the debate last night. >> okay. stuart: first of all, i want to deal with libya. just play one clip, please, this is the one where the president did $here is what he did and did not say, go. >> think about what the governor just said he said when i took

office the price of gasoline was 1.80, 1.86. why is that? because the economy-- >> i'm sorry, i roll the wrong clip. my apologies there. earlier we played you the clip where the president was-- where governor romney was actually talking about the libya and the response from the administration, you saw that interchange and candy crowley did, jumping in there. your response. >> i think it's stunning what the president said, the fact that he came out and i don't know the moderator helped this along, but completely dishonest, in saying that he called what happened in libya an act of terror. he didn't do that. and i've got to tell you, even if you, let's just say for the sake of argument, okay, fine, that's what you meant, what you said and let's suspend all, all fact and say that that's where the president was at, then why would susan rice, the ambassador to the united nations go on meet the press six days later and so, no, it wasn't an act of terror, in fact, it was a spontaneous eruption, based on a youtube

video. the fact of the matter is this president hasn't been honest with the american people and that's the issue. stuart: okay, now, did you think that the audience perceived it that way, after the interjection of candy crowley saying, yeah, you're right there, mr. president. do you think the audience got there? >> well, certainly-- and that's why we have to now set the record straight. fact checkers are doing that and a lot of work to getting to the same viewers as best as we can to say, wait a second. the president hasn't been honest here and this is the united states of america and we have a state department that is saying one thing, a white house saying another, and these guys are like, an episode of the keystone kops and that's what this is about. bad things happen in the world. stuart: that's going to come out next week with the foreign policy debate. i want to move on quickly to gas prices and just listen to this for a second. >> think about what the governor just said, he said when i took office the price of gasoline was $1.80, 1.86. why is that? because the economy was on the

verge of collapse. because we were about to go through the worst recession since the great depression. and as consequence of some the policies that the governor is promoting. it's conceivable that he could bring them down because we would be in the same mess. >> do you think that the president won on the gas prices. >> the problem that the president is he can't retreat to where the truth is for the american economy. you saw it all night. he didn't have a safe zone on the economy, no response on the fact that here are the promises you made, mr. president and here is where we're at he retreated to his chair and didn't have a comeback on mitt romney's best attacks on the economy and would i say this, just overall, just to keep in mind, this president ran in a tough economy. he ran knowing where that economy was, he won in large part based on the economy and based on the fact that he would fix the economy in three or, three or four years or otherwise

he'd be a one term president. gas prices are double, jobs are down, debt is up. they haven't passed a budget in three years, that's the issue. this is the indictment of the president where he's vulnerable and that's why he can never get ahead on these debates. stuart: now, the last words spokesen in the debate last night were from the president taking another jab at governor romney over the 47%. >> i believe that governor romney is a good man, loves his family and cares about his faith, but i also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considers themselves victims, who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. folks on social security who worked all their lives, veterans, who sacrificed for this country. students who are out there

trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this country's dreams. stuart: powerful stuff, last words of the night. >> listen this president's campaign has come down to gotcha moments. and mitt romney said repeatedly it wasn't an artful comment. this president left the country out in the cold on economy, debt and not just wasting money,s he's borrowing from china first and then wasting money and why the country isn't buying what he's selling and the barack obama 2008 is completely broken. stuart: we appreciate you coming by the show. >> thank you. stuart: and the other issue, guns, assault rifles and second amendment, the question that got the ball rolling on that topic. >> president obama, during the democratic national convention in 2008, you stated you wanted to keep ak-47's out of the haads

ever criminals. what has your administration done olan to d avlt weapons? >>ater n.r.a., he'll joie company and the question. 10:45. housing starts hit a four year high today. nicole, any impact on the market? >> absolutely, we're seeing some home builders moving higher again. and building permits helped them move along throughout the year, 2012. lennar, for example, hitting a new 52-week high. and housing starts jumped 15% in september to a four year high. building permits higher and yesterday, we heard about home builder confidence the highest level. does that seem to be true? i don't know, i'm not a housing analyst and some of the folks on wall street are mixed on the numbers. the truth of the matter is the reports that we're getting helped the stocks jump over 100% year to date. names such as pulte group, standard pacific, kb home and

ryland is up almost 100%, or more this year. stuart: up over 100% gets our attention. >> take that return. >> i would, back to the debate, an issue that mitt romney focuses onn whe talng with president obama's record. the number of people signed up for food stamp, another record hey, 46 million, 681,833. accord to go a senate budget committee report. governor romney brought it up last night. >> people in poverty, one out of six people in poverty. how about food stamps, when he took office 32 million people were on food stamps. today, 47 million people are on food stamps. >> and another big issue, drilling. look at this. >> in the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters

in half. >> not true, governor romney. >> how much did you cut it. >> not true. >> by how much did you cut it. >> we've produced more oil-- >> no, how much did you cut licenses on federal lands a federal waters. >> governor romney here is what we did, there were a whole bunch of oil companies. >> i had a question and the question is how much do you cut. >> you want me to answer. >> how much did you cut them by. >> i'm happy to answer the question. stuart: here are our numbers from our brain room. drilling permits on federal land down 37% from the last three years of president bush to president obama. >> and down 32%. and the preds making the use it or lose it argument that oil companies are sitting on the leases, not so. it see msbout one in 100 strikes to get a productive oil well. you have to do a lot of seismic and geological surveys. how does the president describe inactive and the government yanks it. what the oil industry is saying they basically need to have the leases to get at pockets of oil.

stuart: doug, i don't think the president had a strong comeback on any sector of the energy debate. >> no, i think he lost the energy debate. stuart, my take was he lost the first half of the debate. it was only when candy crowley had that interjection that the tide and tone of the debate turned to the direction of president obama. stuart: that's interesting. doug, you're a pollster. >> right. stuart: i want to g your reaction to frank luntz's post debate focus group we showed you er. >> i think tt governoromney for the bulk of the debate, not the whole debate was presidential. i think he lost some of his composure the final half hour of the debate. i think the polls will remain close, the tracking polls, that have it within the margin of error will stay within the margin of error. stuart: we'll have more in a second. the obama administration is facing fallout over the failure to respond to the terrorist attack in libya last month. now is the white house about to attack in retaliation and drone somebody, would that even be a

questi question, legal? the judge is next.

>> stocks are almost dead flat right now. the dow jones industrial average is down, all of three points and that's it. ibm, that is shaving 60 points off the dow. a much better than expected report on housing starts, doing not much for the market at the moment. construction of new homes up 15%

on annualized basis to a four year high. annual rate 872,000 new homes. that's good news for the new home builde today. many of them have doubled so far this calendar year. look at the apollo group, the operator of for-profit colleges, it's shutting down 25 campuses and cutting800 jobs, the for-profit colleges are facing government scrutiny because of the high student loan debt and low graduation rate. down goes the stock. back in 90 minutes with the judge talking about libya and drones and the constitution.

>> no more taxpayer money for the u.s. postal service? the agency hit its 15 billion dollar borrowing limit last month for the first time ever. this forces the postal service to rely only on selling and shipping services for income. the real question hereof course and for another day perhaps is this: what is the end game for the postal service? what are they going to do when they really do run out of the money completely? it will happen soon. >> the obama administration is still taking heat over its lack of response to the terror attack in libya last month. now the ap is reporting that the white house could strike, if it finds a target in libya. i believe we're talking drones here. is that legal under international law? all rise, the judge is here with an opinion. >> and say i think we should

sell the post office rather than throw good money into bad. stuart: i agree with you. >> now, there is speculation that we are readying some type of strike perhaps involving drones against people that we say, they did this in benghazi. >> judiciously planned a week before election day. stuart: is there any way that the president could issue an order, go drone that bunch or drone that guy and keep it legal and within the constitution? >> no, but that would not stop him. i mean, remember why we have such a lawless situation in libya. because the president, on his own, without a declaration of war from the congress, bombed libya and in so doing-- >> i think that's a stretch. >> no, not at all. here me out. he destroyed their military, destroyed their national police, destroyed their local police, destroyed the intelligence services, deployed their infrastructure and destroyed a lot of private dwellings. as a result the law in libya is whatever militia reigns in a

given area. the government that replaced gaddafi, as horrible as he was, is unable to govern, as we understand a government doing, retaining freedom and safety. stuart: is that our fault? >> it's primarily the president's fault. absolutely. there was they declaration of war. stuart: it's good if i's fault? >> gaddafi was a monster. >> thank goodness he's dead. >> we wouldn't have had the invasion in benghazi if gaddafi was alive because-- >> you have militia's running free in the streets. stuart: they were running free long before-- >> they were not running free until we destroyed his ability to-- >> what we're talking about gaddafi reign of terror separate from the war powers act and the president would ask for a drone strike, what are his restrictions and how is he basically used and-- >> he has never complied with the law.

>> the war powers act, correct? >> correct. he has bombed on his own, and sent drones. stuart: can he do anything, if we identify the people that we believe were responsible for the murder of our ambassador, can the president do anything? >> under the war powers act, yes. stuart: what? >> he could dispatch the military from the sky, gund or orom t sea to kill the persons he believes were responsible. >> within 60 days, right. >> no, he could do it tomorrow. >> he has 60 days. >> he has to report within 80 days-- 90 days and do it for another 90 days. stuart: so he can drone somebody, within the law. and he should drone somebody. >> yes, yes. >> so, will he do so because it's close to election day? because the easiest time to have attacked these people would have been within the 24 hours after the assault on benghazi, not a month later when they have dispersed to the four corners of the earth. stuart: so he can do that. this is a basic question, he can

do this legally, constitutionally. he can do this. >> my argument is, the reason he has to do this is because of a -- a chaotic situation. stuart: that's a separate argument. >> well, it's the same argument. stuart: always is. >> stuart, it's the argument-- >> and you think it will be a drone attack or some kind of-- >> there will be, there should be and hopefully it will be successful and knowing this president it will be the last ten days of the campaign. stuart: but it will be highly political? >> everything about this administration is highly political. stuart: i think you agree with that, it will be highly political. >> yes, absolutely. stuart: okay, judge. >> enhance his reelection campaign and for no other legitimate purpose. i mean, two weeks to recognize that this was an invasion. stuart: justice will be done and he'll say i said i'd get them and i've got them. >> and he has killed americans using drones, that's not lawful, but claimed it was--

i have a no sympathy for al with a lackey. >> i have any sympathy for anyone that-- >> he's a murderer. >> whose life has been taken without due process. stuart: you're on dangerous terms. >> no, taken up the constitution. >> so have i. stuart: welcome back tomorrow, will you come back? >> if you'll have me. stuart: it's within the range of possibility. >> constitutional. stuart: no surprise here, the mainstream media called last night' debate a win for obama. my take and my 16-year-old daughter's take next.

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>> unfortunately he really suffered on that and what i think ultimately changed the running average guess him. he would have had a great night would it not have been for that comment. if that was the highest volume point of the evening right after that comment. stuart: that was teen prodigy in our last hour telling us how romney's binder of women comment affected the twitter feed. tune into "varney & company" every day weekdays, 9:20 sharp. got to catch it all. and in the next half hour two stairs we need to get to. first is gun control and the election, and wayne laperriere's

response to last night's gun question. check tout housing, four bedroom, three bath house in the sacramento area, $251,000 last year. and how much do you think it's going for now? here is a hint, it has gone up. we'll have the answer at the end of the program. >> and stidespite ibm and housi starts, maybe balancing out. nicole, dean foods in the news a lot recently, a winner today, why? >> dean foods is up almost 12% right now. and we're watching them closely for a couple of reasons, number one, an ipo coming our way, white wave, which is a-- the maker of the silk almond milk is going to proceed with an ipo. and raising up to 320 million dollars, to do that, and it's up 12% and dean foods itself is a name that we know, because they

make land o'lakes butter and international delight coffee creamer, but the unit that they own and keep a majority stake in, the following the offering, but then they'll use that money to pay down some debt that's owed, owed to dean foods. good news for dean foods. >> good news for dean, all right. dow jones average down 3 points, now this. we all have our own personal opinion on last night's debate, but we're bombarded by the opinions of others, because we're surrounded by media, are we not? comes at you all the time. and it will surely have influence. so, here is my take on the media's view of the obama-romney fight. the collective opinion is, obama won simply by showing up with some fire in his belly. start in california san francisco chronicle no less headlined obama hit, romney misses. l.a. times coverage is all about

the new obama going on the attack. the chicago trib, obama was energized. the atlanta, obama's triumphant debate. from london, the financial times declares obama recovers his poise. and then there's the new york times for the president, punch, punch, and another punch. the times believes the president settled his party's nerves last night and that's what's coming at you. no discussion of the president's record on the economy, hardly anything about the unfolding libya disgrace. the establishment media doesn't want anything to do with any of that. oh, no, the president is on the way back. that's all you need to know. i'm not buying that. are you? hold on, hold on. one last thing, my 16-year-old daughter watched again with her friends and wrote out her notes. picked them up at three o'clock this morning. and here is her conclusion. obama made progress from the last debate. that's the only way people could claim that he won. watch out, mr. president, she's taking notes again, next monday.

>> breaking news, the amount of oil in storage went up 2.8 million. that's a lot more than estimated. look the at the price of oil. it's 92 a barrel. not much change there, regular

gas, it was 1.84 a gallon when president obama took office and it's more than doubled since then. and here is the president from last night's debate. >> think about what the governor just said when i took office the price of gasoline was 1.80, 1.86. why is that? because the economy was on the verge of collapse. because we were about to go through the worst recession, and the same policies that governor romney is now proposing. it's conceivable that governor romney could bring down gas prices because with his policies we might be in the same mess. stuart: that's interesting. and joining us, scott, you heard the president's response on gas prices. what do you make of it? >> well, welcome to common sense corner. i mean, go back to some of those policies? i mean, look the at a buck 84, the december -- or november, december after he was elected. we had unemployment 6.8 and 7.3

in december. and let's call it around 7% around those months. unemployment is higher there's more people out of work so gasoline prices should be be lower than a buck 84 if you want to use his metrics, i don't understand where he's come from. the economy was in worst shape back then and ultimately some things have gotten better because we've thrown money at the situation, but i argue 1.25 gdp and 7.8 or 8% of people unemployed. what is he talking about, gasoline should be a buck 50 if he wants to use that argument. stuart: i don't think that the president was strong on any sector of the energy debate. do you? >> no, when pressed, he didn't have the answer. it's interesting what i've been doing for the debates, trying to keep a good point of view and doing it without watching the television, listening to it on the radio and last night even on the radio i not a lot of people think that president obama did better, but there were very good points that romney made that kind of got lost in the theater

of things a little bit. going forward, i think it's nice to listen to it on the radio and get a stripped down point of view and you really hear the facts. stuart: i'll do that, but now, i really should be watching fox business and fox news on television, no, you've got to do that. >> all right. stuart: thank you for joining us see you again soon. >> all right. stuart: in last night's debate both candidates were asked this question about guns. >> president obama, during the democratic national convention in 2008, you stated you wanted to keep ak-47's out of the hands of criminals. what has your administration done or planned to do to limit the availability of assault weapons? >> i'm going to make the value judgment that neither candidate offered a really specific response to that question. so, joining us now is wayne lapierre, the n.r.a. will you give your response to the question that that lady asked last night. >> it's funny, stuart. i mean, the media called me up

and said wayne, are you shocked by the president saying what he said last night? and i say, wait a minute, am i shocked beneath the president's surface he's anti-second amendment to the core? i'm not shocked, i'm shocked you guys aren't shocked. when i said you were anti-second amendment and you said he was pro second amendment and now not shocked at all. a handgun ban and semi automatic, he was single over and underside by side shotguns and raising tax on fire ammunition 500, 350 federal tax on a $500 rifle and eliminate all right to carry permits in every state and it was one of only nine legislators in illinois to jail a home owner in the mid feel the a night used a firearm against a criminal with a rap sheet as long as your arm and the president voted let's go ahead and prosecute that guy.

that's where cling to your guns and your religion came from. stuart: he didn't do any of that. as a president he hasn't done any of that, has he? >> if he gets a second term, it's katie bar the door. they are he' trying to fob this issue to get past this election and then i guarantee you, i've seen their play book. they're going to go after one or two more supreme court justices and the second amendment as an individual right is gone. 's already said he wants to pass some phony assault weapons ban. you know, he throws around terms like spray bullets, weapons of war, and like our soldiers use. does the truth count anything in america anymore? >> if it's an ak-47-- and ak-47 i think is a battlefield weapon, right? >> stuart, all those guns, fully automatic guns, all of those guns you're talking about, spray bullets, weapons of war like our soldiers use, they've been banned since the 30's.

that's where the disconnect is. that's why gun owners are so frustrated in this country. the truth doesn't matter. they recent it as much as the ranchers down on the border in texas and arizona where the mexican drug cartels are coming through their night every night and putting them in danger and the president goes down there and jokes, ha, ha, what do you want to do put a moat out here, alligators, ha, ha, ha. the truth needs to matter for something in america anymore. stuart: is that why gun sales are very, very strong. is it the fear of a second term and what president obama would do in a second term? is that it? is that the story? >> yeah, they think it's harder to buy guns if the president gets back in. maybe impossible to buy so they're buying them now. but i'll tell you something, on this president, i looked up chicago. do you know where-- we all know chicago's out of control on crime right now. do you know where chicago, the president's political machine, where chicago ranks on federal prosecutions of the gun laws?

here is the federal data. you've got to go they rank it 90 dinner federal judicial jurisdictions and go through one whole page and go through another whole page of the jurisdictions get 89 out of 90 and hit chicago on prosecutions of the federal gun laws under this administration against drug dealers with guns, gangs with guns and violent felons with guns, that's why chicago's out of control. the president has dropped grants for prosecution and every street cop knows if you want to control violent crime, take violent criminals off the streets, we're got the federal gun laws to do it. the president is doing just the opposite. all right. >> he's dropping prosecutions, if he gets back in they're going after the second amendment not after criminals. stuart: you're a frequent guest on this program i don't think you're quite as-- >> i watched the debates and--

>> last night, really in despair? >> i really do, because the truth doesn't matter. it's all entertainment and lost and politicians don't care whether they're saying the truth or not. and the immediamedia candy crow guarantee she didn't know what she was talking about either. stuart: that's another story for another time. wayne la pierre you're a popular guest, thank you. >> thank you. stuart: the response, what the candidate did or did not say about israel during the debate last night. 0t[h7

>> this is for the tell it how it is file. ibm is a big loser on the market this morning. reporting sales of nearly 25 billion dollars, lower than it was last year, same time. wasn't as much as people were expecting. the decline across the board and the market doesn't like it. and computers just aren't selling like they maybe used to. down 9 bucks. and that's hurting intel, the chip maker and reported disappointing results late yesterday. down 2 1/2%. those two stocks shaving more than 70 points off the dow industrials. without them, the dow would be solidly higher. we also want to check the price of oil, we're at $92 a barrel and gas prices down overnight. quite sharply so, the national average now of 3.75 a gallon and that's down 11 cents in a month. back in 90 seconds to ask a

rabbi why israel was barely mentioned last nights in the debate. copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners.

>> there's a little discussion and debate last night about the middle east, but hardly a mention of israel. joining us now is rabbi hirshfield from the learning center. rabbi, welcome back. >> good to be here. stuart: you talked about during the break only one time the word israel was used. >> that's correct, governor romney turned to the president and he said, look, what has been the success, in fact, it's been

a failure your middle east program, including the fact that you made a decision to try and open up daylight between the obama administration and the state of israel. >> so only one mention. >> that's it. stuart: in 90 minutes. what does the jewish community make of only one mention? >> look, i think it's not a jewish community issue, i think it's an american issue. the united states. stuart: all right, all right. >> has one ali in-- >> if it's an american issue, not a jewish issue. what does america make of only one mention of the word israel in 90 minutes? >> i think they have to ask why the president couldn't respond to the governor's question. the truth is the no daylight issue is not about policy, it's about messaging, the no daylight policy, differences between the state of israel and the united states government get worked out in private and this administration departed from previous administrations and made the decision they could air some of those in public and the president was clear, in private meeting with jewish leaders in '09 he was going to do it, because in his words, we tried

no daylight and eroded our credibility with the arab world and the president couldn't respond, we tried daylight and-- >> if the president is saying israel and the size of new jersey should return to the 1967 borders u'saying that the jewish voter is still going to vote for the president as a majority and not mitt romney? >> i think so, but typically in the 70's and the 80's and now looking potentially down to 60, to be fair to the president. >> okay, 60% of the jewish vote will go by president obama. and-- >> and that could cost him florida. >> it could, i think it's incredibly significant, the sophistication of the approach, if the governor wants to do better, is to always think about whatever they currently mequote unquote jewish issue and-- >> you mean social justice. >> it's a justice issue go after the president and challenge the his definition of fairness is

fair. and say i also believe in fairness and understand it differently. if you're committed to fairness thinking about voting for me. >> 60% of the jewish vote goes to president obama down from 78 last time around and it could cost president obama florida. >> florida and the election. >> and the election. >> all right, i think we got to the nitty-gritty. rabbi, thank you indeed. >> always a pleasure. stuart: next, are home prices really rebounding? check out four bedroom, three bathroom house in the sacramento area, 251,000 last year. the price has gone up. how much do you think it's gone up? the answer is next.

>> we're going to step away from the debates and politics just for moment. housing prices are up, but how much? one of our favorite real estate people, tanya from team investment is here with us today. okay, you brought us a couple of houses and we're going to give out prices. i'm going to start us the ouhou in sacramento. this oust was worth 467,000, correct. >> yes. stuart: in 2011 down 251,000. it sold for how much? >> $275,000, it went up almost 10% in one year in sacramento.

investors are flooding that market as well. they're seeing the value there. stuart: so, you've got 10% on your money in a one-year period in the sacramento, california area. >> what's interesting about sacramento, they are he' down to 1700 homes in inventory at their height they were at 4300 homes a month for the inventory so the inventory is down. stuart: there's the number. second house, charlotte, north carolina. put it on the screen, in the year 2007, this thing was worth, only $299, very nice, 299,000, in the year 2011 last year, it was valued at 141. it's under contract for-- >> $150,000. stuart: that's it? >> that's it. exactly. but that's a 6% change, that's a positive movement at least we're not going down and staying stagnant and seeing the numbers come up. stuart: you're putting a smiley face on. look at that, the house in sacramento and the house in charlotte are currently worth on a selling floor about half what they were worth and sold for six

years ago. >> but that means we're stabilizing, right? and even though, even though the housing numbers came out today and they were very positive one thing we have to remember there's still a lot of people underwater. so, i read a statistic that nearly half of everyone under the age of 40 is still underwater, that purchased their home. and that's-- >> regrettably i'm the not under the age of 40 and two real estate investments outside of new york in miami beach and las vegas, decidedly underwater. >> if you bought at the peak. >> i did. >> miami is coming back because of foreigners. stuart: foreigners, watch out for them. half the people under 40 underwater, they can't sell the house and move without taking a loss and a down payment and that reflects the number of buyers coming into the marketplace. >> and here, and i'll throw this into perspective for you. a year ago, there was 15.7 million homes underwater. now, there's 15.3 million homes underwater.

what's happening is that little bit of equity that's coming through the market is pulling some people out of that position. >> and glacial-- >> and what are we seeing, seven to ten years. >> five to ten more years. stuart: so that house in, let's say that house in charlotte, 300,000 in '07. you don't think it will get back to 300,000 until what, 2019 or something. >> yes. >> really. >> if ever, right? >> if ever. >> because i think that we will stabilize and we'll never he see in our lifetime the great peaks or great valleys that we've seen, we'll see the bumps, as a normal lifetime. stuart: and you want people to give you their money, invest it in real estate and watch it go up and offering only limited rur returns. >> no, 22% on appreciation alone not talked crash flow and that house in charlotte will rent for 1250. you want to be in the cash flow game and let that-- >> and fabled companies--

>> and we wish you with your money market enterprise. the highlight reel is next. [ male announcer ] this is steve.

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which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, frotd ameritrade. stuart: here it is. the highlight role. things got really heated again. you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was a day after terror. >> he did indeed, sir. [ talking over each other ] stuart: it was a fight, almost literally. >> please proceed governor. >> i want to make sure we got that for the record. stuart: there is no love lost. interruptions. in your face. i want to take a moment to thank our company for terrific coverage of what was a great debate last night.

dagen and connell, it is yours. dagen: thank you, stuart. a lot of talk last night. who really has the right plan for creating jobs and writing this economy. connell: google ceo out in public for the first time in months. the health of larry page. dagen: nike dropping lance armstrong. connell: all that, plus the choice, a mouse or a touch screen? walt mossberg will join us. the pros and cons of windows eight. that was some debate last night. they were really going at it. dagen: i thought it was very presidential. i hope they are all like that. it was that good. connell: it